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PC Plod
PC Plod was a robot built by a team of engineers from Kent and Essex which entered a side event in Series 3 of Robot Wars, but its event was cancelled. It also attempted to enter Series 4, but did not qualify. The robot was named after Mr. Plod (also known as PC Plod), the village policeman from the Noddy series of children's books by Enid Blyton. The team consisted of the captain Ken Ginn, the driver Clive Rainbird, the primary builder Mick Lake, and Tony Hodgeson, aka Izzy Inyet. Design PC Plod was a white, wedge-shaped robot with orange, blue and yellow side stripes and a small blue light on top; its colour scheme resembled the 'jam sandwich' livery widely used by British police cars around the time of Series 4's production. It was armed with a small saw blade built into the front wedge for weaponry. PC Plod's armour was strong, but the robot was light at 65kg, and its cutting disc could only reach out of the robot's armour by a few millimetres at maximum. The robot was powered by 2x 12V 12ah lead acid batteries. The speed controller is a unique design that incorporates a bomb proof control system which can handle the stall current of 100 amps of each motor. It is fitted with two independent sensors to measure the current drawn from the batteries with minimal power lost in the sensors. The controller uses two Arizona Microchip 8 bit PIC micro controllers, and the profile of the controllers can be adjusted in software. Steering is of the tank type as opposed to the alternative which was rather like a model carDetails of PC Plod's control system. Qualification PC Plod fought two robots in the qualifiers for Series 4, the first of which being Small Torque. Despite Small Torque's controllers overheating towards the end of the battle, PC Plod lost the fight, but it then fought The Executioner in its second qualifier. During the battle, it was rammed, lifted and grabbed by The Executioner and had its saw blade shattered at one point. However, PC Plod's armour was strong enough to withstand the latter's crushing claw, causing it to bend while trying to pierce through the robot itself. PC Plod was able to win the battle against The Executioner, but ultimately neither robot qualified for Series 4, with the producers criticising the structural design of the machine. PC Plod did not attempt to enter any future series. Robot History Series 3 PC Plod originally qualified to enter a side event during Robot Wars: The Third Wars, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it did ultimately did not get to take part in either of its planned battles. PC Plod was originally scheduled to fight a walking robotInformation added by the team captain. Series Record Outside Robot Wars On 11th October 2016, PC Plod was sold on eBay to its new team The Scrappers for £45, with the hopes of making it fight-worthy again. After discovering how little purchase PC Plod's cutting disc can make with other robots, the team have considered a variety of new weapons for the robot, and also intend to lower the profile of its wedge, as defence against spinners. Trivia *Ken Ginn was part of The Steering Committee. References External Links *The Scrappers Facebook page Category:Robots which failed to qualify for any main series Category:Robots with Circular Saws Category:Robots from Kent Category:Robots from Essex Category:Robots that represented military or emergency services Category:Members of the Steering Committee Category:Robots whose events were cancelled Category:Robots with names based on literature